Practical Programme
Feb Feb 2013
on application
Brussels

People

Motus in Latin means movement, transformation and it is exactly the idea of physical movement which characterises the work of the company founded in 1991 by Enrico Casagrande and Daniela Nicolò, later joined by Silvia Calderoni.

Motus - coming soon at Cifas (suite...) from CIFAS on Vimeo.

(image : Cifas)
(image : Cifas)

Mucchiomisto - Drifts and Landing

For "Mucchiomisto - Drifts and Landing" Motus would like to work with a group of artists from different countries corresponding to this new category of forced migrants; nomad artists.

(image : Cifas)
(image : Cifas)

Motus proposes to explore the "tempests" experienced when we abandon a country and need to adapt to a new territory, a new language, understand the labour market, the Arts institutions and ... loneliness!

(image : Cifas)
(image : Cifas)

Those many experiences brought by the participants will then be changed into a living material and a critical reflexion. The work will also be based on expresive and spoken languages: the more the group is heterogeneous, the more the issue can be adressed in order to create a real "MucchioMisto" of experiences.

(image : Cifas)
(image : Cifas)

Can we see Brussels as an island, an archipelago? A land? Who could be Caliban?

Motus conceive the work of the actor according to two major point of view: an intensive physical work along with a delicate and attentive use of speach.

Subsription before the 3rd of February.

(image : Cifas)
(image : Cifas)

The workshop is organised in collaboration with Festival de Liège.

Motus

For Motus, company founded in 1991 by Enrico Casagrande and Daniela Nicolò, there are no limits, no boundaries between countries, disciplines and historical moments, no separation between art and social engagement.

(image : Cifas)
(image : Cifas)

They are free thinkers, who are working to cross forms of expression, driven by the need to confront issues, conflicts and injuries of what happens nowadays.  In twenty years of activities, Motus took part in important international projects and was awarded many times.

(image : Cifas)
(image : Cifas)

Since 2006, the actress Silvia Calderoni - Ubu Award 2011, best Italian actress under 30 years old - works permanently with the company with whom she shares the creation process. 

Making the plot 2011>2068 proposes to observe the Close Future. The new frame will be based upon new  “Atti Pubblici” and workshops, in order to create the new performance "Animale politico" which will be presented in Montreal at the coming Festival FTA, in May 2013.

More information

The workshop "MucchioMisto" taking place in Brussels is a part of a series of workshops which will lead to the creation of the new performance "Animale Politico" in May 2013 in Montreal for the Festival FTA.

These important sharing moments are developed by the two directors of Motus, Enrico Casagrande and Daniela Nicolò, together with actress Silvia Calderoni. Each workshop has its own characteristics and modalities. From one workshop to another, they seek to highlight a particular aspect of the course that will lead to the performance.

(image : Cifas)
(image : Cifas)

MucchioMisto 1

The first MucchioMisto was held during the Festival "Vie" in Modena (Italy) during the Autumn 2011. Fifteen young Africans took part in the project; some of them had just arrived from their countries, others were born in Italy. The aim was to explore the sensitive issue about the condition of the foreigner in Italy, a country where the phenomenon of immigration is still very new and not well integrated into local habits. Together they raised questions, brought testimonies from travels, trying to find a spontaneous meeting points. The result was an articulated and intense puzzle. A young Tunisian artivist from the Collective Al KaHaf led extensive brain stormings on political engagement in their own country of origin. The workshop was open to the public and resulted with a final moment, a sort of collective dance of about three hours. The dance moved from one room to another, within the former offices of the festival we had just moved into a new space. A video based on a series of short improvised dialogues was filmed in the streets of the historic center of Modena, in the middle of passersby, always a little leery of seeing a group of 15 foreigners with cameras.

(image : Cifas)
(image : Cifas)

This time was also a first opportunity to explore "Caliban", the character of "The Tempest" by Shakespeare, text which has been selected as background noise for the project "Making the Plot" as a whole. The intention is not to stage the text but rather to extract crucial points of the major themes in order to give a new impetus and to put them in confrontation with what is happening here and now. Indeed, Motus seeks anchor points in the classical theater to feed imagination.

MucchioMisto 2

The second MucchioMisto « The Forest is Indispensable » happened in the independent Cultural Center Angelo Mai in Rome in April 2012, and was adressed to very your performers.

Here is an excerpt of the presentation of the project:

The forest is a vast non-anthropic place where the vegetation grows spontaneously and lushously. It provides oxygen for aerobic beings, food to herbivores, a shelter for a large part of the world's wildlife. It is the place of the other, the hideout of "outlaws" characters, shamans and werewolves.

This is why we love it.

Because it is essential for the breathing of all those who can not bear to be under surveillance. Those who like to get lost and disappear to return, different. Of those who enjoy the flora and fauna along broken paths. Those who like to build huts to shelter and rethink the "raw material of life."

(H. D. Thoreau).

For three days, the spaces inside and outside Angelo Mai turned into a nomad camp where it was possible to sit, sleep, eat... shape forms and formats of primitive art. The workshop was not about transmitting knowledge but rather a place where it was possible to act and live together.

blog came out of this experience.

In a few days they tried to reshape the geography of the place and invited the public to come and watch the 22 short performances created in various precarious dwellings which were built for the occasion. The allusion to the virgin and semi deserts island of "The Tempest" was straightforward.

Don’t be scared.

This island is full of noises, strange sounds and sweet melodies that make you feel good and don’t hurt anyone.

Sometimes I hear a thousand twanging instruments hum at my ears, and sometimes voices…

Caliban, "The Tempest"

MucchioMisto 3

The third MucchioMisto « Where is the master? » took place at occupied Teatro Valle in Rome in December 2012.

Teatro Valle is part of a network of singular spaces liberated and managed alternatively. Following a government decision, this historic and beautiful theater was intended to be privatized for purely commercial purposes. About a year ago though, it was occupied by many artists who have turned it into an extremely active venue, with a genuine dialogue with the urban community, paying particular attention to current problems of artistic creation in Italy which faces many difficulties. In a rather unexpected way, these places have helped to improve culture in Italy and for some time Motus has forged close ties with these spaces. In collaboration with activists occupying these spaces, they created the performance "WHERE".

Throughout this journey towards "Animale Politico" Motus has met various works, texts and essays : "The Tempest" by W. Shakespeare, "Walden" by H. D. Thoreau, "Waste Land" by T. S. Eliot, "Brave New World" by A. Huxley, "Skanner darkly" by P. K. Dick, "Heterotopia" and "Utopian Body " by M. Foucault and his entire work in general... Important texts which define the operating field of the stage and explore it in depth.

MucchioMisto 4

Motus will arrive in Brussels carrying a number of experiments and it will be necessary to open a new action front for the last MucchioMisto.

The idea is to create a mixed group of artists / performers of all ages, from different countries, which may correspond to this new category of forced migrants : nomad artists. People who have left their country for different reasons ; studies, looking for better job opportunities, or for new artistic experiences... Brussels is undoubtedly a fundamental crossroads city. Can we see Brussels as an island, an archipelago? A land? Motus envisions a mixed group with different languages ​​and ethnicities. 

The working theme is "Drifts and Landing" ; whatever may include abandoning a country and the fact to practically adapt to an unknown territory, to a new home, new communication, to the relationship with the labour market, artistic institutions... and loneliness !

Those many experiences brought by the participants will then be changed into a living material and a critical reflexion. The work will also be based on expresive and spoken languages: the more the group is heterogeneous, the more the issue can be adressed in order to create a real "MucchioMisto" of experiences.

Motus would like to explore the work from different angles at the same time : as much from the concrete materialistic point of view as from the dramaturgical point of view.

Illustration Aurélie William Levaux

Cifas offers contemporary artists to illustrate its communication. Aurélie William Levaux illustrated the workshop "MucchioMisto - Drifts and Landing"

Aurélie William Levaux, born in 1981, eldest of a family of eleven children, draws and embroiders the whims of the living on the sheets of the dead.